Sears

The other day I was thinking about Sears. The store and American institution that no longer exist. Well, technically there are a few Sears stores around the country but nothing like they were before their long downward spiral into bankruptcy. I was thinking about Sears because I realized my batteries for some Craftsman power tools were dead and my battery charger no longer worked. I then realized I couldn't get a replacement battery and charger without paying some crazy price. It was cheaper just to go out and get new tools.

While recently at the Adirondack Museum we were looking at an outhouse display with a Sears catalog on a chain for paper. I remember the Sears catalog but never used one in the bathroom LOL.

Then I started thinking more about Sears and how it was a big part of my life throughout my life. I look around our kitchen and we have had Sears Kenmore appliances for decades. We still have a Sears refrigerator. I was down in the basement the other day and while looking at my toolbox remembered that me and my dad had gone to the local Sears store to buy me that toolbox when I was 16 back in the summer of 1968.

I also remembered buying records back then at the Sears on Chelten Ave including the Beatles White Album on a Saturday in November 1968. I went home and put the poster up in my room at our new house in Harleysville.

Another strong memory of Sears was the large building complex on Roosevelt Blvd in Philly that was a sprawling office building complex and warehouse that included a 14 story tower. It was an iconic building that could be seen for miles. It was built in 1920 and demolished in 1994. It was locally known as the Sears Tower although nationally the Sears Tower was their headquarters in Chicago.

Yesterday Becky and I talked about our Sears experiences which were not always good once you got beyond tools and appliances. The clothes and household items were never really the best and the got worse as the years went on. Nobody was really surprised when they went out of business.

It was interesting that they started off with an alternative business model based on the mail order catalog but couldn't compete when shopping went online.

The demolition of the Sears Tower in Philadelphia took 7 seconds.

Another Sears story for me was moving to Buffalo and driving by an old Sears store and parking ramp on Main Street that closed shortly after we came to town. It was abandoned for many years until finally Canisius College bought the building with the intention of converting it into a science center. Then came the recession of 08 which had a very negative impact on Canisius and it's ability to raise funds. The building has still never been completely renovated. 

I saw in the Buffalo News this week that Canisius College has requested permission from the city to demolish the old parking ramp and put up a surface parking lot. The ramp has been falling apart for many years and has been a dangerous eyesore in the community. The planned landscaped would be much better. 

During my last few months working at Canisius I was suffering from the effects of the library building renovation and my doctor had recommended me moving to a different building because of the effects on my lungs of the construction debris and dust in the air. So my last office of my working career was in the basement of an old Sears building that had been renovated by a college for teaching science.